Meet Gorgeous George

We found Gorgeous George, our beloved squirrel that we decided to hand the picture of the month award too. We also decided to name him Grogeous George because having never actually hearing a squirrel being named before, George sounded eloquently perfect.

We found George on Flickr, that popular photosharing site. The user Danielle Walsh, didn’t apply a location to the image, nor did she give us a lot of details about George, but looking at his nice grey fur, in that small plump body, with the look of seriousness in his eyes – a seriousness that only a squirrel can give, it didn’t matter. A squirrel as adorable looking as Gorgeous George definitely deserves to take the cake.

Here’s George

As of today January 16, 2018, George is the last wildlife picture Danielle posted.

We tried to narrow down George’s location so we can figure out exactly what kind of squirrel he is. We found another photo in Daniele’s photostream of George sitting with a bird surrounded by snow. There’s also a duck standing on ice, and another duck standing beside frosty grass. This lead us to believe the photographer lives in a Northern Country or countries above the equator.

We discovered George is actually an Eastern Grey Squirrel (also knows as Sciurus carolinensis) and also found out they live in various states and provinces in North America, the U.K., South Africa, parts of Europe and even Hawaii. See introductions.

Eastern Grey Squirrels were brought over to these countries as introduced species. Apparently they were carefully being contained at a zoo in London, and from there they were introduced to other parts of the world. Why did were they introduced? We’re not sure but apparently for many countries this has turned out to be bad news.

George is considered an invasive species in parts of the world

It’s become apparent in our researches that the Sciurus carolinensis is now considered an invasive species in many parts of the world. This designation stems from the lack of there being natural predators in particular areas which allows the squirrels to have very high birth rates. If there aren’t enough predators to keep the species in check, there’s a chance they can become a nuissance to home owners, and even destroy trees.

You can read the introduced species summary project related to the Eastern Grey Squirrel where you’ll find information that traces them back to their origin, their final dispersion throughout the world, and the problems that developed because of their presence.

Regardless of Georges family history, he’s still one of the sweetest fur babies we’ve ever seen. All we can hope for is that he’s doing well, and that countries who are having a problem with squirrels can figure out how to solve the problem without destroying them completely.